James and Lily, Getting There
by lilminimaya
Summary: James has just started Hogwarts and has met Lily. It took many many encounters between them for her just to like him. These are just a few moments between them over the years that finally got them there
1. In Which James Falls

**Yeah ok so I decided I'll try writing a few stories between Lily and James-just random moments between them over time. I will try and finish this but no promises. Reviews are welcome, good or bad. Oh and I don't own any characters. Once again, dedicated to Lolo for when she's bored (I expect the favor returned) **

It was the first night at Hogwarts for James and everybody was asleep. That is everybody but him. He was sitting on his bed, covers right up to his chin. The boy he had met on the train, Sirius Black had surprisingly been sorted into Gryffindor with him and they shared a dormitory along with two other boys, Remus and Peter. As far as James could tell, Remus was the shy sort. He had barely spoken to them and seemed slightly scared. James could tell he didn't have many friends or none at all since he had seemed almost scared when Sirius had talked to him.  
"Shotgun!" Sirius had yelled barging into their dormitory and jumping on the bed he had deemed as his.  
He lay on his bed, arms and legs both spread out across the bed, looking as though he owned the place. James had looked on at his new friend, knowing that they would get along quite well. Taking the bed on the left side of Sirius he unpacked his trunk while Remus stood at the door, looking around awkwardly. Jumping off his bed, Sirius walked towards him, making him flinch but Sirius had pulled Remus towards the bed on his other side.  
"Here, you take this bed-it's got awesome view of the window. You can look out and see the moon when it's full!"  
James noticed Remus shudder a little at that, and hoped that Sirius would back off a little knowing that the boy would find him intimidating. But Sirius was in his own world, oblivious to the discomfort Remus was feeling.  
"I'm Sirius Black by the way," clapping him on the back.  
"The first Black ever to be in Gryffindor. It's quite a scandal really but I don't mind. It'll piss my family off. Plus this proves I'm brave and chivalrous! Girls already dig my good looks, and now I'll be their knight in shining armor… They could make catchphrases for me…"  
Sirius definitely was in his own world now, his arm around Remus who just stood there looking slightly confused and scared.  
"Like, never fear Sirius Black is here! Or 'Sirius' good looks," he looked around at them.  
"Get it? 'Sirius' good looks? Serious?"  
He looked at their disbelieving faces.  
"Never mind," he said rolling his eyes.  
"What's your name?"  
"Re-Remus Lupin" he had stuttered looking quite small next to Sirius.  
James now looked at Lupin's sleeping figure. He felt a little bad for the guy and resolved to invite him to breakfast with him and Sirius the next morning. Sirius wouldn't mind. Though he wasn't too sure Sirius would be happy inviting the other boy, Peter Pettigrew. He had stumbled in a few minutes after Remus and was short and chubby with small watery eyes. Sirius had looked at him and grinned mischievously. It was quite obvious that Peter had 'loser' stamped across his forehead. James now kicked his blanket away and slipped on his dressing gown. There was no way he could sleep tonight. He missed his room back home and his parents. He was quite spoilt, something he even acknowledged himself but everyone liked him, finding him a kind, fun and fiercely loyal friend. He walked downstairs, planning on sitting in the common room near the fire. Halfway down though he suddenly stopped. The armchair by the fire was already occupied. He recognized the person as the girl who had briefly sat with them in the train. She was sitting still, staring into the fire, her eyes shining and her mind obviously on other things. James just gazed at her. Her legs were curled up and she seemed to be hugging herself. Her hair flickered different shades of red in the firelight while she just sat there, not moving. Quiet and serene almost fragile, and James couldn't look away, there was no way he could. He felt himself falling… For her.

**There you go, first chapter for the first night. Special thanks to Becky though, coz she made me feel as though I wouldn't do a real crappy job of this (though if I do sometimes sorry!)**


	2. In Which James Asks A Question

**Disclaimer: See first chapter Ok, so next chapter. Taken me awhile to write this coz I had like a major mind block and I got a little lazy but here it is. **

It had been a few days since his first night at Hogwarts and James was beginning to warm up to his new home. A part of it was because of his new friends Remus and Sirius. James had been right about Sirius and they both got on spectacularly, both sharing the same sense humor especially when it came to pulling pranks on people. Just in a few days, they had managed to prank most of their year focusing the more cruel pranks on the Slytherins, gaining some magnificent results. And Remus, he was almost just as James had imagined him to be-shy, intelligent. But what James hadn't imagined was that this quiet boy had the same brilliant mind when it came to pranks just like him and Sirius. James personally thought that out of them three, Remus was probably the one most cunning as no one would ever suspect that the smart, sandy haired boy who listened in every class would ever dream of breaking the rules. And then there was that chubby boy Peter. Even after so many days at Hogwarts, he had not managed to find friends of his own, preferring to follow them. James didn't mind as much and Sirius mostly ignored him but James was certain that after awhile he would warm up to him. Their lessons weren't has hard as James had expected, finding that he could easily get through them without too much concentration. But the thing that contributed the most to James loving Hogwarts more every second was a certain redhead. Ever since James had seen Lily by the fire he knew he had hopelessly fallen for her, not that she had noticed him so far. But that was about to change. _  
Tonight, tonight is the night I'm gonna ask her and she'll say yes and then we'll go and walk by the lake and eat breakfast, lunch AND dinner together and walk hand in hand… _  
James sighed as he thought to himself of all the wondrous things he and Lily would do when she would say yes. Sirius sat on his bed as he saw James fret about, getting ready. As far as Sirius was concerned, James should've asked her the very next day. He had heard A LOT about Lily's eyes and how pretty they were in the past few days and if he heard more about the oh so gorgeous Lily, HE would go and ask Lily out, on behalf of James of course.  
"Ok Sirius, I'm ready. What do you think?"  
Sirius looked at James standing in front of the mirror. He had never seen him looking so neat and tidy.  
"You look like Remus. Mess it up a bit-girls like bad boys."  
"Not Lily. Haven't you seen her?" his eyes glazed over, "she always looks so perfect, acts so perfect."  
Sirius rolled his eyes, though he did have to admit James still looked pretty good. The only thing messed up was…  
"Mate, comb your hair." James groaned as he tried to flatten his hair before he just gave up.  
"There's no point. It's the Potter hair-never stays flat."  
The boys looked at each other as James drew a big breath.  
"It's now or never!"  
Both boys went down to the common room and out the portrait hole. Sirius suddenly stopped though.  
"Uhhh… James? Do you even know where she will be right now?"  
"Library" he answered, a little too quickly.  
Sirius raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything, only flashing a knowing smile at his totally gone friend. But they were lucky. On their way to the library they met with Lily, who was walking with that weird Slytherin kid she had been with on the train. James face erupted in a huge smile.  
"It's good to see you Evans," he grinned at her.  
Lily looked surprisingly at James.  
"Umm, you too?"  
"What do you want Potter?" the Slytherin boy spat at him.  
James looked him, clearly feeling superior.  
"Whatever it is, it's got nothing to do with you. I wanted to speak to Evans."  
"What do you want with her?" James eyes narrowed at him.  
"It's Snape right?" Without waiting for an answer he carried on, "Whatever I want with Evans, I'll tell her. I don't need your permission."  
Sirius whistled, "You tell him James."  
"Lily has got better things to do then speak to you" Snape snarled at James.  
"She can speak for herself."  
"Why don't you just go and maybe just take a shower?" Sirius piped in.  
James chuckled, "Sirius will give you tips on how to wash your hair."  
"Why don't you and your pathetic, blood traitor friend just go away?"  
James froze, taking those words in. It was too much for him. A Slytherin insulting his friend in this way. Before Snape could even blink, James had his wand out and Snape was sent flying. As he crashed against the wall and fell to the ground Lily let out a small scream.  
"Sev!"  
James pocketed his wand and watched as Snape struggled to stand up. James took a deep breath and looked at Lily.  
"So Evans….. I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime?"  
Lily looked up from helping Snape off the ground.  
"No thanks Potter, not in a million years." she replied coldly.  
James looked almost shocked as Lily pulled Snape up by the arm and walked off with him. _  
How could she say no? _  
Sirius put his arm around James  
"Tough luck mate."  
James just stood there awhile then shrugged. He loosened his tie and ran his hand through his hair, messing it up further. Pulling his shirt out so that it hung messily he looked at Sirius.  
"Maybe next time…" he said offhandedly.  
"Until then…." Sirius grinned at James.  
"Oi you two!" He yelled at two first year Ravenclaw girls who were walking past. The turned and looked at them, smiling slightly. Sirius put his arm around James again  
"How would you two like a date with us two?"  
The girls smiled widely as they fervently nodded yes.  
"James, we have a date," he lowered his voice so that the girls could not hear the next part. "Come on, what better way to make Lily jealous?" James looked at Sirius questioningly before splitting a grin.  
"Lead the way."

**Should I carry on writing these? I don't know, advice?**


	3. In Which James Arranges A Surprise

**Disclaimer: See first chapter**

**Next chapter-took me awhile. I haven't planned this out yet so I'm pretty much just making it up as I go. I really should get down and make a timeline or something… I was gonna stop but whatever, I got time to write something every now and them. And thanks to -probably wouldn't have carried on if not for you. **

James sat in the Great Hall surrounded by his friends. Peter, Remus and Sirius were all chatting and eating amongst themselves with Remus throwing James a concerned look every now and then. James's attention was not on his friends but rather a redheaded girl sitting a few seats away from them, causing James to sigh every few minutes. A couple of weeks had passed since James had first asked Lily Evans out, only to be rejected and even though James had acted as though it didn't really matter to him, privately he really wanted to get close to Lily. It didn't really help that Lily hadn't even acknowledged his existence which he suspected was due to the fact that he had jinxed Snape that night. When James had told Sirius his desire to still be with Lily even after their date with the Ravenclaw girls, Sirius had laughed saying that at 11 they were too young to be thinking so seriously about any girl.  
"James, you are not falling for Lily Evans. We're 11. We should still be thinking that girls are icky."  
"That's not what you thought about that Ravenclaw girl." James said, remembering how Sirius had had his lips glued to her the whole night.  
"Ah well, it was a boring night and you needed cheering up. I did it for you mate."  
James raised his eyebrows, "You have been with almost half the Gryffindor girls in our year and we haven't even been here for a month. And it's becoming common knowledge that some of the older girls also want to _know you better_. Was that also for me?"  
Sirius had sighed heavily at that, "The things I do for you."  
The sound of Sirius's roaring laughter had brought James back to the present, his eyes still on Lily eating her toast. He tuned the sounds of his friends out and once more began to concentrate on what Lily and her friends were talking about.  
"Hey Samantha," Lily said to her friend, "what is that?"  
Samantha Fawkworth was one of Lily's friends, a pretty muggleborn that Sirius had been quick to notice. She had just pulled out a pink notebook that was covered in glittery hearts, butterflies, cupcakes and other sweet girly stuff.  
"That's my diary," Samantha replied. "I decorated it myself."  
Lily ran a finger over the cover and rubbed at the glitter that had become attached to her fingertip. "It's so pretty!" she exclaimed.  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, I love glitter. Your diary is beautiful."  
James's ears perked up. _So Lily liked that sort of thing, he thought to himself._ The perfect idea to surprise her had just formed in his mind….

_*Potion lesson the next day* _

"I still think it's a bad idea."  
James looked at Remus who was sitting beside him in Potions. He had spent the whole of last night getting his surprise ready for Lily, eager to get it to her as soon as possible. The four boys had even arrived early to class so they could replace what they (or more accurately James) had taken from the Potions classroom last night, so that no one especially Lily would notice it had been temporarily absent. Remus however had badgered James throughout the whole time insisting that Lily would not be impressed, oh and also that James was using too much.  
"It's a brilliant idea" James once again insisted to his friend. "She'll open it and see it and she'll love it and then I'll tell her it was me and then she'll love me and then I'll take her out and I'll hold her hand and then and then… Yeah!" James rambled.  
Remus raised his eyebrows.  
"What if it goes wrong?"  
James didn't answer straight away, thinking before finally shrugging, "Well, she won't know it was me."  
"Oh she will found out," Remus replied.  
"How?" Sirius piped in, who was sitting behind the two boys. But Remus didn't answer and looked to the front where Professor Slughorn was now standing.  
"Ah, good morning class. We're going to be carrying on our lesson from yesterday, this time attempting to make the potion yourself. Now, who can remember which potion it was?"  
Professor Slughorn beamed at Lily as she raised her hand.  
"Miss Evans?"  
"The Stenkytrole Potion Professor."  
"Correct. Five points to Gryffindor."  
Lily tried not to look too pleased with herself.  
"Now the Stenkytrole Potion was discovered in the medieval time which was used by both witches and wizards alike who smelled bad, causing it to remove the offensive odour. In fact this potion was the most popular potion to be given as gifts in those days. The recipient would then take the hint that he or she smelled bad _(There's Snivellus's Christmas present, Sirius muttered to his friends)_. The Stenkytrole Potion is relatively simple to brew and you should have no major difficulties in attempting it. Instructions are in your books, page 367. You may begin."  
There was a large amount of movement as students went to collect their cauldrons from the storage cupboard, but the four boys remained in their seats, all eyes fixed on Lily. Lily was only sitting two tables away so they could easily see and hear her as she returned with her cauldron.  
"Why is my cauldron wrapped?" she asked Samantha.  
Samantha glanced at Lily's cauldron which was indeed wrapped in brown paper, held together by a string.  
"Maybe Slughorn didn't want his favorite student's cauldron to get dusty?" she teased.  
"Oh haha."  
All four boys leaned towards Lily's direction as she tugged at the string, causing the paper to fall off. A cloud of glitter burst out, covering Lily in the substance. Slughorn's yell of 'ho' echoed across the classroom as Lily stood there shocked, glitter coating her everywhere. She looked down at her cauldron, it was no longer completely black. Pink hearts decorated the surface with butterflies bewitched into flying between the hearts. Silver glitter was everywhere, making the cauldron more sparkly than any diary could ever be. It had been completely transformed and would've looked extremely pretty if half the glitter had not been blown up resulting in Lily's shock rather than pleasant surprise at her newly decorated cauldron. "Oh my Hippogriff James!" Sirius exclaimed causing Lily's still shocked and still heavily glittered face to turn towards them. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at James who also looked down to where she was glaring at. His hands. His stupid hands. They too were covered in glitter from last night-the exact same glitter that now so greatly decorated Lily. James hadn't even realized that his hands had been coated with glitter since last night in his excitement. Remus leaned towards James, who had frozen as realization dawned on him and Lily together.  
"Told you she would find out."


	4. In Which James Is Knocked Out

**Hey guys, so sorry for the late update! I was a little busy and didn't have the time to write something decent but yeah hopefully I won't take that long for the next one. Last chapter was suppose to say thanks to Dang Me but it wouldn't show up-even though I had published the chapter twice. Hopefully you can see the name now. Oh and thanks to Elizabeth as well for making me move off my butt to write this chapter. Review to let me know what you think of it so far, criticism is greatly appreciated. **

James crouched behind the shower curtain, silent and still. He had woken up early this morning, which had proved to be quite difficult. Normally Remus was the one to drag all of them out of bed everyday. In fact, James thought as he stifled a yawn, he was probably the only one in the castle awake. The only sane person anyway, remembering when Filch had almost caught them out of bed at 3am a few nights ago. But this morning, James was determined and it was worth all the trouble he had gone through to make it happen. It was Halloween today and the previous night all four boys had sat around the fire excited about it been their first Halloween at Hogwarts. They had heard a lot of the older students talk about the upcoming feast and that alone was enough to increase their excitement. As they had sat around the fireplace, they had shared their stories of spending Halloween with their family, talking about the sweets they had received and the costumes they had worn. Sirius had particularly loved recounting his tales of frightening his younger brother Regulus, who was 2 years younger than him. It had been quite entertaining seeing Sirius demonstrate highly exaggerated impressions of his brother's reaction at these pranks. Remus had been torn between laughing and been disapproving towards Sirius's behavior with his younger brother.  
"That's really not a nice thing to do to your brother Sirius. Those memories could torment him for life," he said remembering his days of being bullied at primary school. Sirius snorted.  
"It would serve him right. Hanging onto our parent's word like a pathetic git."  
Sirius had never hidden the fact from them or anyone else for that matter how much he despised his family and their beliefs. Noting Sirius's expression he had let the matter drop and to lighten the mood had simply replied, "one day he'll get back at you" with a sneaky smile on his face. As he had predicted Sirius's face split into a wide grin scoffing.  
"I'd like to see him try. I'm the great Sirius Black! All of you should bow to me, applaud me, for no one can beat me."  
They had burst into laughter as Sirius had climbed a table addressing the common room, waving his hand towards his fellow housemates and blowing kisses. A sudden thought had emerged into James's mind then, causing a mischievous smile to play its way across his face. And that is why James was crouching behind the shower curtain at 6am, his wand pointing at a camera that had been positioned to capture the doorway. He merely stood there listening, waiting for it. Every morning around this time Sirius would wake up and head to bathroom to apply a special cream to his hair, before going back to bed again. James had been mortified to find out that his friend did this every morning, actually waking up that early. But that was before James had found out how much Sirius loved his hair, spending ages in front of the mirror before finally deeming his hair as 'gorgeous' and leaving the dormitory. James had become use to Sirius heading to the bathroom half asleep every morning and waking him up as he walked past his bed. There was spot on the floor just outside the bathroom that creaked when you stepped on it, and being a light sleeper, that was how James had found out about Sirius's daily ritual. And that was the sound he was waiting for at the moment-his cue. He heard it now and shot a spell at the camera before lunging out of the shower yelling "BOO!" Sirius jumped about a foot in the air just as the camera flashed, capturing his reaction. James fell to the ground laughing as Sirius breathed heavily, having recognized James who had in an effort to further scare Sirius, covered himself in black paint with red splattered across his front so that it resembled blood.  
"You… You…." Sirius said still trying to regain control of his breathing.  
Remus ran into the bathroom followed by Peter, who looked absolutely terrified as he looked down at James still on the floor.  
"What on earth is going on here?" Remus asked looking from Sirius to James.  
"He scared me!" Sirius yelled, pointing an accusing finger at James. Now that the initial shock had worn out he was able to see the funny side to the prank and knowing that his friends would realize he was kidding, he pouted. Still laughing, James stood up.  
"Oh mate you should have seen the look on your face!" James levitated the camera down to where they were standing. "Wait a second, you can," he grinned, clicking another picture of Sirius.  
Peter looked nervously around, whimpering a little as he stared at James, unsure whether it really was him or not underneath the paint.  
"You are James right?" he asked in a small voice.  
James chuckled and slapped Peter on the back, "Course I am"  
Sirius cleared his throat, still pouting. "James Potter" he sniffed, "that wasn't a very nice thing to do"  
"The great Sirius Black huh?"  
"I could've died of a heart attack!"  
Remus raised his eyebrows and sneaked an amused look to Peter as they both watched the scene unfurl before them.  
"You wouldn't have died" James replied rolling his eyes.  
"I could've fainted."  
"No you wouldn't have. You are definitely NOT that faint hearted" But Sirius was beginning to enjoy his drama queen act and went on.  
"Do you know what would've happened if I had fainted? Do you?"  
"What?"  
"You would've had to give me CPR! That could scar us for life, imagine that. Would you have wanted that on your conscience? Would you? Answer me James Potter, would you? Our lips would have had to…. Oh what would people say? The shame of it! Did you think of that?"  
James stared at his friend, he really was quite good at exaggerating everything and privately he had to admit, Sirius did an amazing job at acting.  
"How do you know about CPR? I thought you were clueless on muggle-related things." Remus wanted to know.  
"I uhhhh… I had sneaked out of home once when I was younger. Had an argument with my mum so I was pretty mad. I did some accidental magic and the next thing I know the fat old hairy guy next to me started yelling like a lunatic and keeled over, breathing weirdly. These guys in huge vans came and did CPR. When he woke up, the man had no idea what had caused him to yell and faint like that" Sirius said sheepishly.  
"How did you know it was you who caused him to faint?"  
"I've done it a few times, to my mother and aunt, uncle…. Yeah basically a lot of people."  
"What's CPR?" Peter asked.  
"It's when muggles revive other muggles by blowing into their mouths to help them breathe."  
"We would've revived you with magic!" James exclaimed, shocked at what muggles had to do to revive someone else.  
"Yeah, well if you were muggleborn the first thing you would think of doing would be CPR!" Sirius exclaimed, determined not to lose.  
James snorted, "yeah IF we were muggleborn, but we're….." The boys all looked at James as he trailed off, a look of intense thinking on his face. He turned to his friends finally,  
"CPR huh?"

_Later that evening _

"Are you sure she's on the way?"  
The four boys were in a corridor that led to their common room, waiting for Lily. James had come up with a new plan and was impatiently waiting for her along with Peter, Sirius and Remus who all had tagged along to see how his new plan would end. For someone who made up brilliant plans with it came to pranks, James really did suck when it came to plans that concerned Lily.  
"She'll be here soon" replied Peter. "She's in the library and it's going to close soon."  
"And we all know this is the corridor she takes from the library back to the dormitories," James said, catching the raised eyebrows of his friends. "Oh ok, I'm the one that knows this is the corridor she takes."  
The sound of footsteps heading towards them brought James to a halt, and he looked excitedly towards the sound.  
"Hide!"  
The three boys quickly scrambled behind a suit of armor, a spot that they had chosen before where they would clearly see what was happening without been seen themselves. James turned away from them just as Lily turned around the corner. Her steps faltered as she saw James but she kept walking. Yes, James thought to himself, she's alone.  
"Hello Evans," he said as she walked past.  
"Potter" Lily replied curtly not stopping. But the sound of James's yell made her spin around, just in time to see a huge portrait above James fall and hit him on the head. Behind the armor Remus lowered his wand, whispering "perfect shot." James was lying on the ground, trying to keep as still as possible as he heard Lily run towards him. He wasn't hurt at all thanks to the Cushioning Charm Remus had performed on the portrait earlier on.  
"Potter?" Lily asked hesitantly. He didn't move.  
"Oh no, wake up," she slapped his face lightly as an attempt to revive him. He still didn't move. Lily looked around, there was no one there and she was beginning to panic.  
"Wake up, please wake up," she said shaking his shoulders. James lay there, his eyes tightly shut. Oh yes, his plan was working brilliantly. Being a muggleborn she would not realize or know that there were spells that would revive people who had fainted and she would attempt to do CPR. He James Potter, would get to KISS Lily Evans. Their lips would actually meet! It took him all the control he had in the world to stop himself from smiling, in case she noticed. That's when he felt something wet fall on his face and opening his eyes a little, his heart almost stopped. Lily was crying and the sight of it caused his stomach to clench tightly. Tears streamed down Lily's face, she didn't know what to do with James lying on the ground. She thought maybe if she ran for help but she didn't want to leave him alone. As tears continued to fall down James realized that it wasn't worth it. Her tears were too precious to him and he felt as though he was dying just watching her.  
"Evans, stop. Don't cry I'm ok" James said sitting up.  
He wiped her tears as she looked at him.  
"What… How?" she looked at him questioningly.  
"I uh, I thought that maybe if I was knocked out in front of you, you would umm… Try CPR," he said looking down, not able to meet her eyes.  
Lily stood up abruptly, trembling.  
"You faked that?"  
James saw the hurt on her face, her eyes still red.  
"Evans I'm so sorry."  
"Don't waste your breath. You are so…. Such a…. Ugh!" Lily turned, her flaming red hair swinging as she stormed off. James stared after her, standing there. He had never expected her to cry, had never wanted to upset her. He heard his friends come out from their spot and stand around him silently. Someone, he wasn't sure who, clapped his back and put an arm around his shoulders causing James to feel a little stronger, a little better. He needed it, he had been pretty stupid tonight.


End file.
